MIDDLEFIELD, Ohio — The cancellation of a high school play in Geauga County is catching the attention of Broadway. Cardinal Local Schools halted the high school’s spring production of “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” because the school board found some of the play’s content vulgar.
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“If this were to get completely shut down forever, we’d all just be so disappointed and heartbroken and I don’t know where we’d go next,” said Riley Matchinga, a senior at the school and one of the play’s lead cast members.
Her mother, Mandi Matchinga, is the show’s assistant director. She told News 5 the production team had a meeting scheduled with the superintendent Wednesday afternoon. When they arrived, she said only 2 members of the team were allowed into the closed door meeting and little clarity was provided.
“One of the board members does not like the portrayal of the home school student in this show, that it just makes this home school student flighty and they just don’t like how that’s portrayed,” she explained she was told.
The Avenue Arts Theatre company in Canton is currently performing the same play.
“It’s a hilarious comedy that is heartfelt and really challenges your audience to think deeper than what is on stage,” said David Lee, the Producing Artistic Director for Avenue Arts.
He explained the play includes mild language, an appearance by Jesus and a character with a pair of gay dads. He and many of the cast members at Avenue Arts emailed the Cardinal school board to tell them the show’s content shouldn’t be a dealbreaker.
“These stories should go uncensored and be told throughout our community,” he said. “We really hope that the administration, the teachers, the school board sees theater and the arts as an outlet for students that might not traditionally fit into sports, or any other extracurriculars. But they find their home and their joy on stage.”
A similar message was shared by several big names from Broadway.
On Instagram, Jesse Tyler Ferguson weighed in on the situation in Middlefield, Ohio. The actor, known for his portrayal of a gay father on Modern Family, was also part of the original cast for “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.”
“I’m heartbroken for you,” he told the Cardinal students in the video.
His caption called the cancellation “obvious and thinly veiled covers of some bigger things.”
“Definitely more than one person at this school is gay or lesbian or bisexual. The message that that sends to them that this is not ‘family appropriate’ or ‘family friendly’ is toxic and harmful and kind of abusive,” Ferguson said.
In a statement this week, the school board cited its anti-discrimination policy in response to chatter that the play was being canceled because of its gay characters:
“As is spelled out in more detail in Board Policy 2240, the district believes that the consideration of controversial issues has a legitimate place in the instructional program of our schools. However, the district wants its student productions to be something that community members of all ages may enjoy without adult supervision. In all aspects of its operations, the district vigorously enforces its prohibition against discriminatory harassment based on race, color, national origin, sex (including sexual orientation and gender identity), disability, age, religion, ancestry, or genetic information. Anyone suggesting otherwise is simply mistaken.”
In addition to the famous actor, the original writers also reached out to the Cardinal production team. They offered to make changes to the script if the district pointed out the specific parts it found “vulgar.”
“Specific words are easy to change to match the community’s needs. It sounds like this could be a mask for other issues and that by now you’ve moved on to considering other shows. But know that you and your students have our sympathy and support,” Matchinga read from an email she received from writer Rachel Sheinkin.
The original Broadway cast is planning to hold a virtual conversation with the Cardinal students. They were also invited to attend an Avenue Arts performance of the play free of charge in its final weekend.
“[We’re] so grateful and so happy to be getting the support we’ve been getting recently,” Riley Matchinga said.
Mandi Matchinga explained it’s likely too late for the theater program to find a new play for its spring performance. Obtaining the license for a program can take up to six weeks. The casting, rehearsing and preparation required would probably push the new show past graduation.
Many of the Cardinal High School cast, crew and families plan to take their concerns to the public comment period of the school board meeting on Feb. 8.
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